


That Includes You Too

by Tkhan0



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Gen, Kingdom Hearts III Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-26
Updated: 2019-03-26
Packaged: 2019-12-18 09:52:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18247439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tkhan0/pseuds/Tkhan0
Summary: “Well that's an excessive amount of ice cream. Did you really need four?”A slightly au rewrite of the clock tower scene because fuck it.





	That Includes You Too

**Author's Note:**

> Adapted from a chapter of my fic “As Destiny Would Have It” because I wanted to release it as its own thing, dammit.

Tomorrow was the day of the fated battle, and if he was being honest, he felt like a colossal failure.

He wasn't any closer to getting Roxas back- not that he'd have any idea how to, he left the sciency stuff to Ienzo and the Radiant Garden crew. He hadn't even _seen_ Isa since their encounter in the sleeping worlds, didn't know if the girl they had been trying to save in the first place was even still _alive_ , and he couldn't shake the feeling he was _still_ forgetting something.

He had let down pretty much everyone he'd ever known.

Not to mention the ice creams he bought were beginning to melt all over his hands.

A voice breaks his contemplative silence, and he nearly drops all of them. “Well that's an excessive amount of ice cream. Did you really need four?”

He looks up at the man before him as if he were an apparition.

“Isa! Where have you been?” Sora had said most of the Organization's members had been spotted poking around the various worlds he visited but Isa hadn't been among the members Sora ran into. Were they keeping him on a short leash or something?

Isa doesn't say anything, instead opting to sit down and grab one of the rapidly melting ice creams.

“Hey!”

“One for you, one for Roxas, and two more because…? Afraid this is the last time you'll get to eat this ice cream?”

“No way! Once everyone's back we’re definitely coming back up here.”

“Everyone? Who is there besides Roxas?” Isa knows Lea doesn't yet remember Xion, likely only acting on vague recollections and feelings, but he can't say he's not curious about the use of the word everyone, and Xion doesn't account for the extra stick.

Lea doesn't actually know why he said it either, just like he doesn't know what possessed him to purchase four ice creams instead of three, but he needs to make something clear.

“Well… The details are kinda hazy, but I'm getting all my friends back. That includes you too, yknow? Don't pretend like you don't like them either, we ate this all the time as kids.”

Isa pauses, hand holding the ice cream hanging in the air just below his face, arching an eyebrow. “Are we still friends?”

“The invitation is extended to the Isa _I_ knew.” he says scathingly, the sharpness in his tone undisguised. “But I'm still not sure about _you_.” He says, pointing the ice cream at him in accusation. He hadn't managed to figure it out this whole time, still hadn't figured out why Isa remained on their side. “Damn it, Isa… What the hell are you doing? Why are you still working for them?! I know you probably didn't have a say in the matter earlier but-”

“What?” Isa interrupts, confusion evident.

“When you recompleted! I know they collected you for their little bad guys club, I saw it with my own eyes!” This was news to Isa. He hadn't been aware they had even been in the same room before he woke up to the irritating, but familiar face of Xigbar and the unfamiliar face of his new companion- or perhaps it was old to him, as Xigbar seemed to regard him with a modicum of familiarity that bordered, but didn't quite reach, fondness- who apparently had unspoken authority over them both. The similarities between the young man and the superior were close enough for him not to question it, and they reached an unspoken understanding.

The two had been quick to weave poisonous lies about how everyone had been quick to abandon him, that no one wanted anything to do with him, and that's why he was there with them now. Probably with the intent of motivating him to side with them, to seek revenge, but compounded with regret he had now been able to feel it had only further convinced him he needed to set things right.

He truly had been a terrible person, hadn't he? Still was for all intents and purposes.

“Hello? Earth to Isa!” Lea waves his hand in front of his face as he says it, breaking him out of his reverie. “Like I was saying, you don't have to continue siding with them! If-”

“Do you know why Xemnas added Xs in our names as nobodies?” Isa interrupts again.

“Huh?” Now Lea's the one confused. Where was this coming from all of a sudden?  “No, can't say I do.”

“They call it the Recusant's Sigil. Recusants… People who refuse to obey authority. He was marking us, branding his potential vessels as a way of warning, a way of taming them. If they refused orders or betrayed the Organization he could use it to track them down. He had it all planned from the start. We were in over our heads, Lea.”

“But I'm not a nobody anymore!” And god he hoped that was all it took to make his sigil useless because he'd still been using the name Axel with some of these people and it’d be pretty bad if the Xehanorts were tracking _him_. “If you stick with us, we could help you too! I could help you!” He looks at Isa, imploring, a hopelessly desperate look in his eyes. “Please, Isa… just let me help you. We've already drifted so far apart since we became nobodies… I just want us to be Lea and Isa again. I know you might think it, but I was never trying to replace you.”

He did think it once. A foolish notion really. Lea made friends with anyone at the drop of a hat. And one of those friends had just so happened to look exactly like another they had once made. He really shouldn't have been surprised by that turn of events.

But as much as Isa wants nothing more than to take him up on that offer, to be welcomed back without question and weather through the war on the right side, amongst trustworthy allies and new possible friends, he knows that too much depends on him seeing this through to the end. Lea deserved to be reunited with his other friends. Xion deserved to have them remember her and her heart return to her. Roxas deserved to exist. The guardians of light deserved to have them on their side.

And he probably deserves to be on this one.

Isa says nothing for a long time, head silently turning to face the setting sun when he breaks eye contact. Fingers idly trace the lines of his scar before he finally speaks up. “There's a reason I was one of the chosen vessels. Xemnas…do you remember when he etched the sigil into my skin? We were so eager to get on his good side, to avoid suspicion, that I agreed immediately. It had been a test of loyalty, but he said it would serve as a warning to the others too. Now I understand why.” Isa gets up then, doesn't look at Lea as he turns his back to him. “There's no helping me. The Organization does not take lightly to betrayal, as I'm sure you'll recall. You'd do best to remember that.”

“Me, Roxas, our lost friend… There's no saving any of us. You need to face the facts.” There's an almost imperceptible change of tone as Isa says that, but he doesn't know what to make of it. He can tell he's trying to get a rise out of him though, and it works. “Oh yea? I'll show you! I'll show all of you! I'm going to get everyone back, even if it's the last thing I do!”

Isa has the audacity to fucking _laugh_ at him, but somehow it feels less mocking and more good-natured, and he thinks he can see the slight upturn of a smile on Isa’s face as he turns his head back slightly to address him. “Of course. I expect no less from you.” But before he can make heads or tails of the sudden change in nature, Isa leaves through a dark corridor, leaving him alone again with dripping ice cream and drifting thoughts.

**Author's Note:**

> Again, if you want to see some elaboration on how this plays out and what led up to it, check out ["As Destiny Would Have It."](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17935736) The version of this chapter in there is a bit different because I wanted to add more to this one and make it standalone. But trust me, if you liked this you'll probably like the rest of that fic. *hint hint, nudge nudge*


End file.
